Rebel Fighters Inside Aleppo (PHOTOS)

Nine months after rebels launched their surprise offensive into Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and commercial capital remains a vital battleground in its grinding civil war. Once considered a stronghold for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Aleppo is now mired in a deadly stalemate, as rebel and regime forces wage daily battles and Assad’s warplanes sow terror overhead. Photojournalist Yusuf Sayman ventured to Aleppo’s front lines for three days in early April and returned with these searing portraits of the rebels’ desperate fight. Here, a rebel fighter, left, eyes a government sniper.